Dr. Joel Hay: “No Scientific Proof” Social Distancing Prevents Spread

Dr. Joel Hay debunks the idea that social distancing has helped stop the spread of the disease. He cites data from Sweden and points out the known fact that COVID-19 was active in the U.S. late last year, months before social distancing measures were put in place. Dr. Hay states that the lockdowns are “destroying millions of lives and killing about a hundred people for every one it ostensibly saves”.

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Video Transcript

get the all-clear to go back to work but
the debate on whether it’s safe – or if
we’ve flattened the curve enough
continues here to speak more on this is
USC professor of pharmaceutical and
health economics Joel hey Joel good to
see you this morning thank you for
joining us
yeah thanks for having me so there are
two I would say on the extreme ends
school of thoughts when it comes to
getting back to work getting our economy
running again one being you know let’s
just open everything up and go back to
work and then on the other end there’s
no we haven’t done enough we need to
stay home stay in this lockdown further
you sort of represent the let’s open up
let’s get back to work you’ve been
questioning in articles that this idea
of social distancing can you can you
speak to that a little bit correct in
fact there’s no basis there’s no
scientific evidence to support social
distancing with this particular virus
c19 social distancing is for viruses
that are very lethal but not that
contagious and transmissible this is
probably the most contagious virus we’ve
ever seen I mean it leaped around the
world in a matter of weeks or months
probably was in Los Angeles and
California generally last year I mean
keep in mind this is the kovat 19 virus
it is from last year and it’s been
around for a long time and that’s what a
lot of the serology data is now starting
to show we just had a big study in LA
County showing that about 70 times more
people are positive for C 19 then their
tests were showing when you go out and
test asymptomatic people out in the
community they are asymptomatic there
see 19 positive and it’s not affecting
them well yes and some of those studies
are obviously in question still because
the antigen tests have not proven to be
100% accurate or effective but we are
also learning that it has been in
California earlier than then first
reported based on an autopsy that was
just not 100% effective is the idea of
social closure
they said that if we reduced office work
if we shut down restaurants and
non-essential businesses if we cut
transportation if we shut down the
schools that we were due spiral
transmission to zero guess what
none of that happened so all these
people that question this or that
they’re based their entire intervention
of social distancing on no evidence I
know plenty of evidence that the virus
has been out there for a long time and
we got to open things up I understand
that it’s hard to you know to prove a
negative but wouldn’t you say you’re
saying there’s no science to prove that
social distancing is working on a virus
like this but wouldn’t you say by
looking at New York you could say that
the the opposite might be true that we
don’t have evidence to show that it’s
not working I mean you look at a densely
populated area like New York and where
it’s it’s very hard to socially distance
a lot of people early on we’re not
listening to the advice and yet we’ve
seen how drastic and devastating the
cases and deaths of covin 19 have been
in a city like that well keep in mind
that South Korea is even more dense than
New York City and they’ve only had less
than 250 deaths total and they’ve been
involved in this longer than anybody
else and they never shut down anything
you can say that the New York City
disaster was a lot due to panicked
health care workers who did not have
proper protective equipment and used
ventilators which are now known not to
be good for many c19 patients and can
actually increase risk of death among
many c19 patients so that was actually
totally inappropriately done keep in
mind a couple very important stats
eighty percent of pregnant women in a
recent study the only one that I’m not
aware of so it’s the only one we know
about
we’re see 19 positive not a single baby
born in the United States so far to my
knowledge as see 19 and died because of
see 19 so why are we shutting down the
schools kids don’t affect it by this
and then take prisoners 2.3 million
American prisoners only 35 deaths forced
social mixing less deaths and the rest
of the country come on how do they
explain that well I I think is it isn’t
it not accurate to kind of take into the
health of a population I mean if you’re
talking about a younger population with
without some of these comorbidities that
go along with it it seems as though
people are doing well with it but you
take in elderly population and some of
these other comorbidities like obesity
and diabetes numbers of which the United
States has the highest in the world
it would seem that though that’s that’s
also something to take into effect is
the situation yeah do what we always do
isolate them if you’re frail and sick
and immune compromised maybe you got
cancer or something yeah isolate
yourself and make sure those people
around you stay isolated but don’t
isolate the young and healthy
Sweden crew that that’s how you get the
herd immunity that’s how you get the
social mixing that’s how we’ve done it
naturally for millions of years what is
this nonsense you don’t shut down the
globe or something that’s normal flu or
even two to three times normal flu this
is destroying millions of lives and
killing about a hundred people for
everyone it ostensibly saves well these
are good discussions to have there’s a
lot of debate going on about getting us
back to work so we will continue to have
the discussion in terms of the burden of
this on everyone we have a survey that
we would love your audience to get
involved in and get their friends and
acquaintances involved in and that’s at
Joel Hakam we’re capturing the burden of
this illness and it’s devastating all
right Joel hey calm people can go there
and fill that out Joel thank you for
your take this morning thanks a lot